Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Old School Sophisticated Aggression

His point of view

WOW! It's been over two months since my last update. My apologies! Honestly, there will probably be additional periods of latency in the future. I expect this to be a long term project. Everything is a matter of time and money. I got plenty of time and not so much money.

I have to blame this most recent delay on my trusty daily driver. It seems that the transmission in my Durango decided to take a dump. I did manage to get 100K miles before it dropped 2nd gear. So considering the mileage, the lack of attention on my part and the historical performance of Dodge transmissions, I'd say I got pretty lucky. Now if I could only get some new ball joints, tie-rod ends, two tires, an alignment and a partridge in a pair tree, I'd be doing well.

All troubles aside, I finally found some time this past weekend to do some work on the jalapeno popper.

Here's a question, how many boxes can a 1978 Ford truck fit into: answer 4.

I believe that have just about all of the ancillary stuff removed from the truck and it fits in about 4 boxes. This weekend I managed to pull the HVAC out of the truck, exhibit A, huge hole in firewall. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the engine coolant! When I pulled the outflow hose from the engine block, I was sad to discover that the exit tube (the thing that the hose connects to, I don't know what to call it) was severely rusted. I'm hopping that won't cause me troubles in the future. But I hope that's NOT another story for another day.


Other accomplishments of the day include the removal of the gas tank, to which I was pleasantly surprised to find a tank with an inside that was in decent shape (I think, again, I really have no idea). AND, a bunch of gas. I thought it was about 5 gallons. It ended up being about 10 gallons. I ended up calling a friend to come get it. I HATE messing with gas!


Last task of the day, removal of the bed bolts. All eight of them. And what am I rewarded with? Some busted knuckles. I'm sure that won't be the last time I spill blood for the old girl. Anyway, the bed is ready to be removed. I CAN'T WAIT to get the bed off. It will finally feel like I'm actually getting something accomplished. Now, where to put it....hummmmm. Honey, you remember talking about moving the bedroom furniture around for a change? I've got some ideas about that......

I think I'm pretty close to being able to do get some body work done.
First up on the agenda, the tailgate. Nothing serious, it just needs a little bit of straightening and some metal work and MAYBE a shaved tailgate handle. Also, I'm thinking about getting one of those LED third brake light strips and having it inset into the top of the tailgate. I'm also toying with the idea of some linear motor action on the tailgate?!?!?!?! Not sure about that. Probably just end up going with a plain jane tailgate and bed. Cheaper!

Next up, the bed. I would like to get the stake pockets filled, the gas door shaved and relocated and a wooden bed floor. I'm open to ideas about the gas door relocation. I'm thinking about maybe moving it to the driver side rear corner of the bed. Just not sure. It'd make it kinda hard to put gas in the truck if there's something in the bed. But if I made if flush with the bed rail. HUMMMM, have to think about that some more. I do have one trick item I am contemplating, but your going to have to wait for that. I'm not even sure it could even be done. HINT: Think early 80's Cadillac trunk.

There is a fine line between classy and trashy. I want the truck to have that old school sport truck look. I like to call it 'Old School Sophisticated Aggression'. The trick is not to go overboard. Maybe the LED strip is a little too flashy?!?!?!?

Until next time, Mike

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